Picks for the five best 3-D films

Karen Tapia-Andersen / Los Angeles Times

By Susan King, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer When movies seemed in danger of losing audiences to TV in the early 1950s, Hollywood tried to find ways to lure to people back into theaters. (Remember wide-screen movies?) One gimmick that worked for a while was 3-D films. Their golden age began in 1952 with the action flick "Bwana Devil." Over the next few years, 50 3-D movies were made before the novelty wore off. In the '80s, 3-D returned, with such forgettable entries as "Jaws 3-D" and "Amityville 3-D." More recently, audiences have been donning the special glasses again. The next time will be for a new adaptation of Jules Verne's "Journey to the Center of the Earth," opening Friday. Among the old clinkers are some worthy 3-D films. Jeff Joseph, president of the 3-D Film Preservation Fund and producer of World 3-D Film Expos I and II at the Egyptian Theatre, picks these five greatest films from the golden age.

By Susan King, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer When movies seemed in danger of losing audiences to TV in the early 1950s, Hollywood tried to find ways to lure to people back into theaters. (Remember wide-screen movies?) One gimmick that worked for a while was 3-D films. Their golden age began in 1952 with the action flick "Bwana Devil." Over the next few years, 50 3-D movies were made before the novelty wore off. In the '80s, 3-D returned, with such forgettable entries as "Jaws 3-D" and "Amityville 3-D." More recently, audiences have been donning the special glasses again. The next time will be for a new adaptation of Jules Verne's "Journey to the Center of the Earth," opening Friday. Among the old clinkers are some worthy 3-D films. Jeff Joseph, president of the 3-D Film Preservation Fund and producer of World 3-D Film Expos I and II at the Egyptian Theatre, picks these five greatest films from the golden age. (Karen Tapia-Andersen / Los Angeles Times)

"House of Wax" (1953) Vincent Price, Frank Lovejoy, Phyllis Kirk, Carolyn Jones and a young Charles Bronson star in this classic thriller about a deranged wax figure sculptor (Price) who uses real bodies for his chamber of horrors wax museum. Ironically, director André De Toth was blind in one eye and couldn't experience the 3-D effects. "It's not only really well made," Joseph says, "but the 3-D is terrific and it's a good story. It's not cheaply done in any sense. It's very much a studio [Warner Bros.] film with a good budget. Every time it got rereleased and when we have run it at the expos, it draws a huge crowd. "There were 50 movies done in English in 3-D during the golden age and maybe 15 or 16 were originally shown in stereophonic sound. Of those, only two [soundtracks] have survived. The others were lost. The worst one that is lost is 'House of Wax' because not only is it a terrific score -- they made a big deal of it being in stereo -- it was more or less the first time people heard stereophonic anything. It played all over the country in stereo. But they are just lost tracks. It's very sad."

"House of Wax" (1953) Vincent Price, Frank Lovejoy, Phyllis Kirk, Carolyn Jones and a young Charles Bronson star in this classic thriller about a deranged wax figure sculptor (Price) who uses real bodies for his chamber of horrors wax museum. Ironically, director André De Toth was blind in one eye and couldn't experience the 3-D effects. "It's not only really well made," Joseph says, "but the 3-D is terrific and it's a good story. It's not cheaply done in any sense. It's very much a studio [Warner Bros.] film with a good budget. Every time it got rereleased and when we have run it at the expos, it draws a huge crowd. "There were 50 movies done in English in 3-D during the golden age and maybe 15 or 16 were originally shown in stereophonic sound. Of those, only two [soundtracks] have survived. The others were lost. The worst one that is lost is 'House of Wax' because not only is it a terrific score -- they made a big deal of it being in stereo -- it was more or less the first time people heard stereophonic anything. It played all over the country in stereo. But they are just lost tracks. It's very sad." (Warner Bros.)